Tag Archives: Lipstick

A couple of minutes before typing this post, I took a break from my computer, got my red lipstick from my purse and put it on. I’d been in my room almost the whole day, I only went out to grab something from the caf. So all I had on was a big sweater, nothing special. Certainly nothing that deserves red lipstick. So why did I put my lipstick on? Because I felt like it, because I don’t have to look good only when I’m going to be seeing other people, and because I’m the only one who can decide whether or not I need some makeup at any moment.

It occurred to me while I was putting it on that most girls would probably have put on the lipstick before they went to the cafeteria, not after they got back. These days, I see so many girls who are obsessed with how they look, girls who think they are too ugly, too fat, too thin, too short, or even too tall. It breaks my heart because these girls don’t see the true beauty in themselves. They go on and on about these so called flaws, and society just reinforces them.

Of course everybody neglects to remind the thirteen year old girl that the acne on her face which she is freaking out about is completely normal. When was the last time you saw a celeb with a pimple? What, did every celebrity just magically gain great skin?

My roommate recently posted a girl’s before/after picture on Instagram. The great thing about this picture was that it wasn’t just your typical “lost weight” before/after picture. The before picture was of a girl who previously had an eating disorder and was so thin. The after picture was of the same girl, she had gained more weight. In my opinion, she looked beautiful! But of course we live in this society, and there was someone who commented on the picture saying the girl was now fat. See, I’m not a violent person, but I really wanted to punch the person who made that comment in the face.

When I was younger, you never had to worry about being fat. Now, increasingly, 9- and even 10-year olds worry about their weight. I don’t have any problem with being healthy. So if a 9-year old is worrying about her weight because she’s legit too overweight, fine. But if she’s worry because she wont be able to fit into size 2 jeans, then that disturbs me. Even babies these days are held to this standard of being thin or fat. The other day, I saw a reply to a twitter picture of North West, Kim K’s daughter. The reply said something like “That baby is just fat.” My reaction to this of course was “What on earth? She is a baby. How can you call a baby fat?”

I see clothes these days labeled “size 00.” Why is a woman expected to fit into clothes that are sized “double nothing”? This makes no sense to me.

So unless we teach our daughters, nieces, cousins, sister, and friends to be comfortable with their bodies, society is going to teach them otherwise.

We have to teach them to be okay with being slim, because society will teach them to get thinner.

We have to teach them to be okay with being big, because society will convince them that they are too fat.

We have to teach them that they are beautiful no matter what, because society will try to convince them that they aren’t.

And of course, let’s teach them to wear red lipstick when they feel like it, not when society tells them to.